If he breached the court order, they said, he would be charged with contempt of court and could be jailed for up to two years and/or face an unlimited fine.

That was back in April last year but Miller has turned a deaf ear to the threats.

He is now the director of kitchen firm Maple Industries, based in Cardwell Street, Oldham, and the town's trading standards officers are dealing with 150 complaints.

So we are urging the OFT to show its teeth and prove its threats were not empty.

Dossier

In fact, we are going directly to trade and industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt and sending her a dossier of our findings. Maple's advertisements and leaflets often claim its kitchens are "destined for Homebase stores".

The giant DIY chain took out an injunction last October demanding that this wrong claim should no longer be made.

But the MEN has shown Homebase evidence that the claims are continuing. The company's lawyers are considering what to do.

Miller was behind Craftsman Kitchens Ltd and Craftsman Kitchen Manufacturing Ltd, operating from premises in Manchester city centre, Bury and Rochdale when the MEN revealed that 75 per cent of their customers had complained.

They said they had spent thousands on kitchens which were shoddy. They also said they were treated abysmally when they complained.

After our investigation, the Department of Trade and Industry went to the High Court and closed both companies.

This was swiftly followed by the Stop Now order which was served on Miller and Sadiya Hussein, who is manager of Maple Industries.

The order clearly warns Miller and Hussein to stop "the failure to supply goods of satisfactory quality, refrain from similar conduct with other businesses and to stop the failure to deliver goods within a reasonable time".

Miller was jailed in 1998 for punching a woman health worker who was asking about a minor pollution problem. He was also convicted for attacking a journalist and gave her two minutes to get out "before getting her head kicked in".

We have given Miller, 37, the opportunity to respond but we have not heard from him.

At the time of our original inquiries, he boasted that he had also been jailed for smuggling diamonds into America, questioned by police on suspicion of importing cocaine into Sierra Leone, accused of shipping gold into Belgium and arrested for kidnapping.

He then added: "Everybody thinks I'm a gangster but I'm not. I've been in prison in six different countries but I run a good business."

The Office of Fair Trading is investigating complaints but would "have to go through them very carefully" before deciding whether to take further action.

l COMPLAINTS against Maple Industries have flooded in from across the country. So far, trading standards officers in Oldham are trying to help 150 customers who feel they have been left high and dry by the company.

Many responded to a flyer which dropped through the door. Others replied to adverts in magazines and national papers. Many of these lied that the kitchens were "destined for Homebase stores" - despite a court injunction ordering Maple to stop these claims.

The length and breadth of Britain, the complaints are the same - either the correct kitchen units were not delivered or the ones that were turned out to be shoddy or falling to bits.

Following our investigations the BBC's Rogue Traders programme on Thursday will be looking at Maple and the misery the company brings. Below are just a few of the victims' stories.